LOCATION OTTERCREEK AK
Established Series
MPS/SAS
05/2022
OTTERCREEK SERIES
Landscape--mountains
Landform--mountain slopes
Slope--3 to 20 percent
Parent material-silty colluvium and/or gravelly colluvium
Mean annual precipitation--about 595 mm
Mean annual air temperature--about -3 degrees C
Depth class--very deep
Drainage class--poorly drained
Soil moisture regime--aquic
Soil temperature regime--cryic
Soil moisture subclass--typic
TAXONOMIC CLASS: Coarse-loamy, mixed, superactive, nonacid Typic Cryaquents
TYPICAL PEDON: Ottercreek silt loam on a southwest facing linear, linear on the lower third of a mountain slope on a slope of 5 percent at an elevation of 401 m (The soil was moist from 0 to 11 cm and wet, satiated, from 11 to 150 cm when described on June 23, 2016.)
Oe--0 to 3 cm; mucky peat, 50 percent dark gray (7.5YR 4/1) and 50 percent brown (7.5YR 4/2) dry, 50 percent black (7.5YR 2.5/1) and 50 percent very dark brown (7.5YR 2.5/2) moist; many very fine roots and common fine and medium roots; moderately acid (pH 5.7); clear smooth boundary
Oa--3 to 11 cm; muck, dark gray (10YR 4/1) dry, black (10YR 2/1) moist; common very fine, fine, medium, and coarse roots; slightly acid (pH 6.1); clear smooth boundary
Cg1--11 to 33 cm; silt loam, light gray (N 7/), dry, gray (N 5/), moist; massive; friable, moderately sticky, slightly plastic; common very fine and fine, and many medium roots; few fine tubular pores; 30 percent medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron; 1 percent fine gravels; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary
Cg2--33 to 54 cm; stratified silt and silt loam, 60 percent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) and 40 percent light gray (2.5Y 7/1) dry, 60 percent dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) and 40 percent gray (2.5Y 5/1) moist; massive; friable; common medium and fine roots; few very fine tubular pores; 30 percent medium prominent strong brown (7.5YR 4/6) masses of oxidized iron; 2 percent fine gravels, 8 percent channers; slightly acid (pH 6.3); clear smooth boundary
Oab--54 to 60 cm; muck, dark gray (N 4/), dry, black (N 2.5/), moist; massive; slightly acid (pH 6.1); clear smooth boundary
Cgb--60 to 150 cm; gravelly silt, 50 percent gray (2.5Y 6/1) and 50 percent light brownish gray (2.5Y 6/2) dry, 50 percent dark gray (2.5Y 4/1) and 50 percent dark grayish brown (2.5Y 4/2) moist; massive; friable; 15 percent medium faint brown (7.5YR 4/4) masses of oxidized iron; 5 percent channers, 15 percent fine gravel; slightly acid (pH 6.3)
TYPE LOCATION: Nome Census Area County, Alaska, latitude 63.5035190 longitude -160.8404830 degrees, datum WGS84 (coordinates determined with a GPS unit)
RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Mean annual soil temperature--0 to 3 degrees C
Soil moisture control section--saturated at the soil surface for about two weeks during the growing season, saturated at a depth of between 0 and 25 cm for much of the growing season (aquic soil moisture regime)
Thickness ochric epipedon--5 to 19 cm
Depth to redoximorphic iron concentrations--5 to 19 cm
Depth to reduced matrix--5 to 19 cm
Depth to aquic conditions--at the soil surface
Particle Size Control Section:
*Clay--8 to 18 percent
*Total rock fragment content--0 to 15 percent gravels, channers, cobbles
Oe horizon
Thickness--2 to 15 cm
Oa horizon
Thickness--4 to 17 cm
Cg1 horizon
Hue--2.5Y or N
Value--4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry
Chroma--0 or 1
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, silt
Clay--6 to 18 percent
Sand--5 to 30 percent
Organic carbon--0.5 to 3 percent
Total rock fragment content--0 to 15 percent gravel
Reaction--5.4 to 6.7
Thickness--20 to 40 cm
Cg2 horizon
Value--4 or 5 moist, 6 or 7 dry
Chroma--1 or 2
Fine-earth texture--silt loam, silt
Clay--6 to 18 percent
Sand--10 to 30 percent
Organic carbon--0.5 to 3 percent
Total rock fragment content--0 to 10 percent
Total gravel content--0 to 5 percent
Total channer content--0 to 8 percent
Reaction--5.6 to 6.5
Thickness--20 to 100 cm
Oab horizon
Thickness--5 to 18 cm
Cgb horizon
Hue--2.5Y or N
Value--3 or 4 moist, 5 or 6 dry
Chroma--1 or 2
Fine-earth texture--silt, loam, silt loam
Clay--8 to 22 percent
Sand--10 to 45 percent
Organic carbon--0.5 to 1.5 percent
Total rock fragment content--0 to 30 percent
Total gravel content--0 to 30 percent
Total channer content--0 to 5 percent
Reaction--5.9 to 7.1
Thickness--15 to 90 cm
COMPETING SERIES:
*
Aquatna--sandy substratum; floodplains
*
Beluga--very poorly or poorly drained, silty clay loam substratum, lithological discontinuity; alluvial fans
*
Moose River--no buried organic layer present, very poorly or poorly drained, sandy substratum; depressions and channels on floodplains
*
Noonku--very poorly drained; channels and sloughs on floodplains
*
Susivar--somewhat poorly drained, sandy substratum; floodplains and low stream terraces
GEOGRAPHIC SETTING:
*Elevation--200 to 850 m
*Climate--warm, moist summers; cold, dry winters
*Mean annual precipitation--490 to 710 mm
*Mean annual air temperature-- -5 to -1 degrees C
*Frost-free period--55 to 90 days
GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS:
*
Peke-cambic horizon, aquic conditions only present in upper part of the profile, redoximorphic iron depletions present, gravels range above 35 percent in the lower part of the profile; swales and headslopes on mountains
*
Teacreek--cambic horizon, moderately well drained, loamy-skeletal particle-size class; backslopes and noselopes on hills and mountains
*
Ukpik--folistic epipedon, cambic horizon, depth to aquic conditions from 25 to 50 cm; swales on loess covered plains
*
Apun--histic epipedon, gelic soil temperature regime, depth to permafrost from 35 to 70 cm; backslopes and noseslopes on hills and mountains
DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY:
*Drainage class--poorly drained
*Saturation during normal years--saturated at the soil surface for at least 15 days during the growing season, saturated at a depth of between 0 and 25 cm for the remainder of the growing season
*Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)--high in the surface organic layer, moderately high throughout the rest of the profile
USE AND VEGETATION:
Use--wildlife habitat, recreation, subsistence
Potential native vegetation--herbaceous forb, Moss, Bigelow's sedge, smallawned sedge, field horsetail, smallflowered woodrush, arctic sweet coltsfoot, Schreber's big red stem moss, dwarf raspberry, cloudberry, tealeaf willow, Richardson's willow, sphagnum, captiate valerian, netleaf willow, water sedge, mnium calcareous moss, tall Jacob's-ladder, buttercup
DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Nulato Hills-Southern Seward Peninsula Highlands, Alaska; MLRA 240; moderate extent
SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (SSRO) RESPONSIBLE: WASILLA, ALASKA
SERIES ESTABLISHED: Nulato Hills BLM area, Nome Census Area, Alaska; 2021
REMARKS:
Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon
*Particle-size control section--zone from 36 to 111 cm
*Ochric epipedon--zone from 0 to 11 cm
*Aquic conditions--zone from 0 to 150 cm
*Redoximorphic concentrations--zone from 11 to 54 cm and 60 to 150 cm
*Reduced matrix--zone from 11 to 54 and 60 to 150 cm
National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.